2 dead, 2 injured in hours-long SWAT standoff in National City

NATIONAL CITY (CNS) - Streets in the area of a National City double homicide remained closed Sunday morning, as the San Diego County Medical Examiner's Office was scheduled to perform autopsies on the two men who were killed Saturday while two other victims recover from gunshot wounds at a local hospital, authorities said.

One of the two wounded men is the armed suspect who surrendered to police Saturday after a standoff that lasted more than eight hours, according to Lt. Alex Hernandez of the National City Police Department.

Officers were dispatched at 9:30 a.m. Saturday to 1019 East Eighth St. to reports of a shooting. Eighth Avenue remained closed more than 24 hours after the shooting began.

"As officers arrived, they found one male suffering from a gunshot wound to his upper torso. This injured male was rushed to the hospital for treatment," Hernandez said. "A second unresponsive male was located nearby with an apparent gunshot wound. Officers pulled the male to a safer location in attempts to render first aid, but declared the male dead at the scene."

The victim who was taken to a hospital told officers that two other men were still inside the apartment and may have been seriously injured while being possibly armed with weapons, according to Hernandez.

"The SWAT team was called to assist with evacuating/rescuing the occupants inside of the apartment. The SWAT team used several different communication methods to have the occupants exit the apartment,'' Hernandez said. "After several hours of communication attempts, a Hispanic male exited the apartment and surrendered without incident."

The suspect appeared to have some type of serious injury and was rushed to the hospital.

"The SWAT team then entered the apartment and located a fourth male dead from an apparent gunshot wound," Hernandez said.

The NCPD Investigations Division was called to the scene to handle the probe. The names of the four men will not be released until the Medical Examiner's Office conducts its initial investigation and releases the information, according to Hernandez.